Day 52 – Q 1.Examine the contribution of Indian scientists in the field of Physics.

1. Examine the contribution of Indian scientists in the field of Physics. 

भौतिकी के क्षेत्र में भारतीय वैज्ञानिकों के योगदान की जाँच करें।

Introduction:

From C. V. Raman to Salim Ali, the talents of Indian scientists and inventors have been fully established in many different areas, including physics, medicine, mathematics, chemistry and biology. Some of them have also contributed in a substantial way to advanced scientific research in many different regions of the world.

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The contribution of different Indian scientists in the field of Physics

• C. V. Raman: Sir C.V. Raman is known to have placed India on the world Science map. He was the first person from Asia to be awarded a Nobel Prize in any field of science for his work on Raman Effect. The Raman effect has been very useful in many areas of science. It was found that when light was passed through a substance, a series of colours were seen that could be thought of as a fingerprint of the substance. This idea has been used in chemistry, medicine, biology and many other areas of science to find out what a substance is made of.
• Homi Jehangir Bhabha: Bhabha’s name is associated with Bhabha Scattering, which involves relativistic exchange scattering of electrons and Bhabha-Heitler theory, dealing with production of electron and positron showers in cosmic rays.

Bhabha was instrumental in the formation of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1948 and the Department of Atomic Energy in 1954 and he chalked out a focussed research and minerals exploration programmes for nuclear energy. He became its first head. India’s First atomic reactor, Apsara was also established under his guidance, thus he is known as Father of Nuclear Science in India.

In 1950s, he enunciated a three-stage nuclear programme to meet the energy security of the nation. This consisted of utilization of natural uranium, plutonium and abundant thorium resources in thermal, fast and advanced nuclear reactors with closed fuel cycle.

• Vikram Sarabhai: The precursor to the current ISRO, Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) was set up in 1962 under Dr. Vikram Sarabhai to formulate the Indian Space Programme.  Under Dr. Sarabhai, INCOSPAR took the decision to set up Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) at Thumba on the southern tip of India.

In 1963, under his guidance, India launched a small U.S.-built rocket from Thumba. This rocket did no more than shoot up to a height of about 200 km and release a cloud of sodium vapour which, set aglow by the light of a setting sun, could be seen from afar in the gathering dusk. This was the humble beginning of India’s space programme and Dr. Vikram Sarabhai is thus called father of Indian Space Programme.

As a result of Dr. Sarabhai’s dialogue with NASA in 1966, the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) was launched during July 1975 – July 1976 (when Dr.Sarabhai was no more).
Dr. Sarabhai started a project for the fabrication and launch of an Indian Satellite. As a result, the first Indian satellite, Aryabhata, was put in orbit in 1975 from a Russian Cosmodrome.

• Jagdish Chandra Bose: Bose was a pioneer in the field of electro-magnetic waves and is widely regarded as the first scientist who demonstrated the phenomenon of wireless transmission of electromagnetic waves.
• Ashoke Sen: Dr. Sen’s work on ‘strong-weak coupling duality’, which is useful for doing calculations in theoretical physics, won him the first ever ‘Fundamental Physics Prize’.
• A.P.J. Abdul Kalam: Dr. Kalam was the project head of the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3). This was India’s first experimental Satellite Launch Vehicle which put the satellite Rohini into orbit. As a director of DRDO, he steared the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), and five projects viz. Prithvi, Trishul, Akash,Nag and Agni were developed under him. APJ Abdul Kalam is known as the “Missile Man of India” for his contributions on the development of ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology.
• Satyendra Nath Bose: Satyendra Nath Bose did path-breaking work on quantum mechanics in the early 1920s, using maths to describe the behavioural pattern of the bosons. Bose worked with Einstein providing the foundation for Bose-Einstein statistics and the Bose-Einstein condensate. Bose figured out how a group of identical photons would behave. He sent his paper to Albert Einstein who recognized the value of his research work and extended it further under the name of Bose-Einstein Statistics. The particles such as photons that obey these statistics are called bosons.

One of the most dramatic effects of Bose-Einstein statistics is the prediction that bosons can overlap and coexist with other bosons.

• Venkatraman Radhakrishnan: He was a globally famous space scientist and was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

He was known for his works for the design and fabrication of ultralight aircraft and sailboats. His observations were helpful in unraveling the mysteries of galaxy structures, interstellar clouds, and other celestial bodies.

• Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar: He was known for his works in Physics, astrophysics, and applied mathematics. Chandrasekhar was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for his mathematical theory of black holes. The Chandrasekhar limit is named after him. He was known for his works on radiation of energy from stars especially from white dwarf stars i.e. the dying fragments of stars.

• Meghnad Saha: He worked in the arena of thermal ionization of elements and later developed the Saha equation. The equation is used for interpreting spectra of stars in Astrophysics. He has been credited for inventing an instrument for measuring the weight and pressure of solar rays. He was the chief architect of the river planning in India and prepared the plan for the Damodar Valley project.
• PK Iyengar: He was an Indian nuclear physicist who is widely known for his central role in the development and design of the first atomic bomb for the nuclear program of India which was detonated at Pokhran in 1974.
• Dr. Tessy Thomas: Dr. Tessy Thomas, also known as “Missile Woman of India” is the Key Scientist for Agni-V in Defence Research and Development Organisation. She is the first woman scientist to head a missile project in India.
• Atish Dabholkar: Atish Dabholkar, a theoretical physicist from India is known for his research on string theory and quantum black holes.
• Nandini Harinath: Nandini Harinath – a rocket scientist at ISRO, Project Manager, is a Mission Design Deputy Operations Director, Mars Orbit Mission and the Mission system leader of NISAR, a joint NASA-ISRO satellite being developed to launch in 2020.
• Rohini Godbole: She is a particle physicist best known for her work at CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Research. Her work on high energy photons could form the basis for the next generation of particle colliders, used to study the fabric and composition of the Universe.

Conclusion

To summarize, Indian scientists have contributed astonishingly in the growth of India. They have augmented the status of India with their scientific achievements and many of the Indian scientists have also received some prestigious international awards as well. The discoveries of the Indian scientists have been appreciated all over the world.